Twin axle rail bogie for convertible rail-highway vehicles

ABSTRACT

A rail bogie is provided with a truck having a platform and railroad wheels beneath it for riding on railroad tracks; a first fifth wheel being mounted on the platform. A draw-bar, also mounted on the platform, includes a vertical leg and a horizontal foot on which are provided a lift plate, a further fifth wheel on the lift plate and a lift mechanism capable of moving the lift plate vertically relative to a connection block located at the upper end of the leg. The bogie is for use in combination with a road vehicle provided, at its rear end, with a hooking block in contact with the vertical leg of the draw-bar; the hooking block being formed with a socket into which is received the connection block of the rail bogie for vertical displacement when the lift plate is moved by the aforesaid lift mechanism. Projecting from the lower end of the hooking block is a coupling king pin lockingly engaged in the fifth wheel of the lift plate.

This is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 333,053, now U.S.Pat. No. 4,938,151, filed on Apr. 4, 1989.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present invention related to rail bogies adapted for connectingconvertible rail highway semi-trailers and the like road vehiclestogether into trains for riding on railroad tracks.

2. Description of the prior art

Rail bogies, known in the trade as "Road-Railers", have fallen into nearoblivion in the 1950s and have operated in relative obscurity untilrecently. But, they have since then been updated and are now knowing astrong revival, possibly due to less stringent regulations fromtransport authorities and, perhaps more so, due to a more aggressivemarketing approach from the railway industry, desiring to recapturetraffic lost long ago to highway carriers such as semi-trailers.

A brief history of a new rail bogie of this type is given in theSeptember 1987 issue of Gazette International (page 605). It is atwin-axle bogie provided with a locking mechanism for joining the bogieand a semitrailer together. At the rail transfer site, the semitraileris moved on the track and its body lifted by its own pneumaticsuspension to allow the rail bogie to be rolled beneath the trailer bodywhich is then lowered into position on the rail bogie, the trailerwheels being thereafter lifted further to clear the tracks safely. Theback of the semi-trailer is also provided with a special coupler so thata trail of semi-trailers can be formed by having the back end of onetrailer fitted to the rail bogie, in the manner aforesaid, and the frontend of the next trailer hooked to the coupler at the back end of thepreceding trailer. The coupling is efficient but the hooking procedureis time consuming and complex.

Another type of "RoadRailer" is described in the September 1987 issue ofthe magazine Traffic Management. In this case, the rail bogie is securedto the body of the trailer, between each pair of tire wheels. Once thetrailer is moved on the railway track, the bogie is lowered to raise thetrailer wheels sufficiently to clear the track safely. Several trailersmay be end connected together to form a train. In this case, alltrailers are equipped permanently with rails bogies which is anexpensive method of road-rail transportation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a rail bogie that canjoin semi-trailers together end-to-end in an easy and simple procedure,particularly using its own lifting power rather than using that of oneof the semi-trailer to be connected. Also, the rail bogie of theinvention is a unit independent of the semitrailer, which rendersroad-rail transportation less expensive.

More specifically, the invention provides a rail bogie including a truckhaving a platform and a railroad wheel assembly beneath the platform forriding on railroad tracks, a first fifth wheel being mounted on theplatform. A draw-bar is connected at one end of the platform whichdraw-bar includes a vertical leg and a horizontal foot on which areprovided a lift plate, having a fifth wheel of its own, and a liftingassembly capable of moving the lift plate and its fifth wheel verticallyrelative to a connection block located at the upper end of the draw-barleg and between a low release position of the connecting block and ahigh locking position thereof.

The invention also lies in the provision of a rail bogie as broadlydescribed above, and of a road while provided, at its rear end, with ahooking block in contact with the vertical leg of the draw-bar; thehooking block being formed with a socket into which is received theconnection block of the rail bogie. The socket and the connection blockare sized and shaped to allow vertical displacement of the hooking blockand its socket, with respect to the connection block, when the liftplate is moved by the lifting assembly. For this purpose, projectingfrom the lower end of the hooking block, there is provided a couplingking pin which lockingly engages in the fifth wheel of the lift plate,thereby allowing vertical displacement of the rear end of the vehiclebody when the lift plate is moved. Other features and advantages of theinvention will become apparent from the description that follows of apreferred embodiment having reference to the appended drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation view, partly in cross section,of a rail bogie made according to the invention and of the rear end of aroad vehicle about to be coupled with the rail bogie;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation view similar to FIG. 1 where theroad vehicle is being partially coupled with the rail bogie;

FIGS. 3a and 3b are side elevation views of the rear end of the roadvehicle and the front end of rail bogie before and after coupling,respectively;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the rail bogie;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of a train of semi-trailersjoined by rail bogies made according to the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of a train drive unit orengine where the train includes a road tractor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a rail bogie comprising a truck having a platform 3 mountedon two sets of coaxial wheels 5 for riding on railroad tracks 7. Wheelmounting is conventional and may be of the type shown comprising an axle9 for each pair of wheels and a pneumatic suspension, for each wheel,made up of a trailing beam 11 fixed, at its center, on a support 13pivotally mounted on the axle 9 and having one end pivoted at the lowerend of a strut 15 depending from the platform 3. The other end of thebeam 11 is applied against a compressed air balloon 17 supported byanother strut 19 also depending from the platform 3.

The platform 3 is provided, at its rear end, with a known first fifthwheel 21 and with a draw-bar 23 at its front end. The latter draw-barhas a horizontal arm section 24 mounted on the platform 3 by means of apivot 25 allowing it to swing laterally about a vertical axis. Thedraw-bar further has a vertical leg 27 solid with the arm section 24 anda horizontal foot 29 solid with the leg 27. Also solid with the leg 27,at its upper end, is a connection block 31 intended to lock into ahooking block 33 provided at the rear end and below the body of a roadvehicle 35 to be hitched to the truck 1, as is further describedhereinbelow.

Located across an aperture 36 of the foot 29 is a lift plate 37 overwhich is mounted a second fifth wheel 39 made capable of oscillatingabout an axis transverse to the truck 1 by means of two pairs 41, 43, ofcooperating pivot brackets. The lift plate 37 is movable verticallybetween a low release position (FIGS. 1 and 3a) of the connection block31 with the hooking block 33, in a manner to be described hereinafter,and a high interlocking position (FIG. 3b) of the blocks 31, 33, bymeans of a lifting assembly 45.

As shown, the connection block 31 has a vertical outer wall 47 and anupwardly inclined bottom wall 49 facing the second fifth wheel 39. It isconfigured and sized to fit in a socket 51 formed in the hooking block33 and having an inlet opening 53 falling in the plane of the verticalwall 57. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the height of the outer wall47 of the connection block 31 is smaller than that of the inward wall 59of the socket 51 of the hooking block 33 so as to allow the latter to bemoved vertically with respect to the connection block 31.

Projecting down from the lower wall 60 of the hooking block 33 is aconventional coupling king pin arrangement 61 of which the pin 62 isintended to engage lockingly in the second fifth wheel 39 on the liftplate 37. In this manner, and as gathered from FIGS. 2 and 3, actuationof the lifting assembly 45 causes displacement of the hooking block 33and of its socket 51 with respect to the connection block 31.

The socket 33 has a bottom wall 63 which is parallel to the bottom wall49 of the block 31 so that when the block 33 is in fully raisedposition, as in figure 3, the two walls 49 and 63 firmly engage oneanother. In that position also, the block 31 and the socket 51 definetogether a latch-receiving keeper 65 (FIG. 3) above the block 31. Thebottom walls 49, 63, are held in firm engagement, and the blocks 31 and33 thus locked together by a latch 67 made horizontally displaceable byan actuating piston 69 mounted on the arm section 24 of the draw-bar 23.The latch 67 is made movable between a retracted position in a latchhousing 71 and a locking position in the keeper 65. Once the latch is inthe keeper, pressure in the lifting assembly 45 may be released

When the vehicle 35 and the rail bogie are coupled, as in FIGS. 2 and 3,the fifth wheel 39 and the coupling king pin 62 are locked together; theblock 33 and thus the rear end of the vehicle 35 can then be lifted bythe lifting assembly 45 from the low position in figure 2 to the highcoupling position in FIG. 3 of the blocks, that is of the rail bogie andof the semi-trailer 35. The two are positively and firmly hitched toanother by the insertion of the latch 67 into the keeper 65 and may berolled away.

The lifting assembly 45 is made up of a pair of like cross-arm devices,one at each transverse end of the lift plate 37, only one being shown infigures 1, 2 and 3.

Each cross-arm device comprises a pair of cross-arms 73, 75, connectedtogether at 77, intermediate their ends for pivotal movement about anaxis transverse to the truck 1. The cross-arms are actuated by a jackhaving a fluid pressure cylinder 79 and a rod 81, the cylinder beingpivotably mounted, by means of a collar 83, on the foot 29 foroscillation about a transverse axis. Beneath the lift plate 37, near theleg 27, there is provided a guide member 85 formed with an elongatedguide slot 87. The cross-arm 75 has one end not shown pivoted to thefoot 29 while its other end cooperates with the guide member 85 toensure its displacement in the direction of the slot 87. This may beobtained by a pin 91 displaceably guided by the slot 87. As to thecross-arm 73, it has one end pivoted to a bracket 93, beneath the liftplate 37 via a pin 89, while its other end is pivotally connected to thefree end of the cylinder rod 81, at 95. With such an arrangement thejack 79, 81, is able to move the cross-arms 73, 75, in 5 scissorfashion, that is between the flattened position in FIG. 2 and theextended position in FIG. 3.

Insertion of the connection block 31 into the socket 51 may befacilitated by the provision of bevelled edges 97, 99, on the blocks 31and 33, respectively.

To avoid damages to the second fifth wheel 39, because of its weight, atriangular resting plate 101 may be fixed over the foot 29.

With reference to FIG. 4, the known second fifth wheel 39 has agenerally U-shaped heavy cast-steel bed-plate 103 of which the sidebranches 105 form sloping ramps and define between them a V-openingleading into a central king pin aperture 107 closable by a pin lock inthe form of a ring 109. The pin 62 of the coupling pin assembly 61(FIG. 1) is received in the apertures 107 for coupling purposes. As saidbefore, the bed-plate 103 is pivoted on the pivot brackets 41 and 43.Similarly, the coupling pin assembly 61, of FIG. 1, includes a pivotbracket mount 111 beneath the hooking block 35.

FIG. 5 illustrates a train formed of a combination of threesemi-trailers 113, 115, 117, a road tractor 119 and a diesel enginesemi-trailer 121 operable as a power semi-trailer from the road tractor119 and of which a description is given hereinbelow. In this example ofuse of a rail bogie made according to the invention, two such bogies Aand B are moved toward the tractor 119 with their feet 29 coming underthe tractor front and rear blocks 33. The semi-trailer 113 is then movedtoward the bogie B and thereafter the lift assemblies 45 are actuated toraise both the tractor 119 and the front end of the semi-trailer 113 forinterengagement and locking of the relevant fifth wheels and king pinsand for lifting the tractor wheels 123 completely off the railroadtrack. At that time, the landing gear 125 of the semi-trailer 113 isretracted, as shown Connection of the rail bogie C to the rear end ofthe semi-trailer 113 and the front end of the engine semi-trailer 121 isobtained in the same manner.

The next bogie D is of special construction. It has its front endpermanently secured to the rear end of the engine semi-trailer 121 whileits rear end has a fifth wheel interlocked with a king pin at the frontend of the semitrailer 115. It is provided with a pair of railroaddriving wheels 127 and a pair of road wheels 129 with pneumatic tires.Once the two semi-trailers 121, 115, are connected, through the fifthwheel, the road wheels 129 are lifted up from the railroad track.Finally, hooking of the rear end of the semitrailer 115 and the frontend of the semi-trailer 117 is obtained through the rail bogie E in thesame manner as described above with respect to the rail bogies A, B andC.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the special semi-trailer 121 for driving thetrain, being controlled from the tractor 119 as said before. Itcomprises a diesel engine 131, with a fuel tank 133, operating anelectric generator 135 and an air compressor 137 pressurizing air in anair tank 139, the air serving for actuating the brakes of all of thewheels 129 and 127. The latter are actuated by electric motors fed fromthe generator 135.

I claim:
 1. A motorized unit for driving a train on rails in which thetrain is made up of a plurality of standard convertible rail-highwaysemi-trailers carried by rail bogies and hooked thereto through afifth-wheel means including a coupling king pin, said motorized unitcomprising: a power semi-trailer of a convertible rail-highway typehaving a coupling king pin arrangement at one end for connection with arail bogie of one of said standard semi-trailers; a rear bogie solidwith the other end of said power semi-trailer and provided with a pairof railroad driving wheels operatively connected to said powersemi-trailer to be driven thereby, said rear bogie having an uppersurface that projects rearwardly of said power semi-trailer and isprovided with a fifth wheel, said rear bogie fifth wheel being sized andpositioned to receive and interlock with a coupling king pin of one ofsaid standard semi-trailers to be driven, and wherein said rear bogie isfurther provided with a pair of retractable road wheels.
 2. A motorizedunit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said railroad driving wheels areactuated by electric motors fed by an electric generator operated by adiesel engine, said electric motors, generator and diesel engine beingcontained in said power semi-trailer.
 3. A motorized unit as claimed inclaim 2, wherein said diesel engine also operates a pneumatic pump forpressurizing air to brake said train, said pump being contained in saidpower semi-trailer.